IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2025-05

International Student Program

Context

Under the International Student Program, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issues study permits to foreign nationals seeking to study in Canada. International students may be eligible for other immigration programs upon graduation, including temporary work programs or permanent residence programs.

Background

• Foreign nationals enrolled in an academic, professional or vocational training program that is longer than six months in duration require a study permit.
• Under the International Student Program, applicants must meet all program eligibility requirements:
  • Be accepted at a provincially designated learning institution (DLI)
  • Hold a provincial/territorial attestation letter, unless exempt
  • Provide proof of financial requirement (e.g. sufficient funds to pay for tuition fees and living expenses)
• Applicants must also meet requirements to remain in Canada to study:
  • To actively pursue studies and remain enrolled at their DLI
  • Comply with all conditions on entry into Canada
• Eligible students can work on- and off-campus and participate in co-op programs during their studies.
• International student graduates may be eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) for a maximum of three years.
• International student graduates may be eligible to pursue a pathway to permanent residence (e.g. Canadian Experience Class, Provincial Nominee Program); or other non-economic avenues (family immigration programs).

International Student Program Modernization

• In 2022–2023, IRCC conducted a review of the International Student Program in consultation with provinces and territories as well as key stakeholders.
• The review identified key concerns:
  • Unsustainable volumes undermining program integrity and contributing to processing backlogs for all IRCC business lines.
  • Program use shifting away from education; overreliance by DLIs on international students to compensate for funding gaps; false expectations around immigration outcomes among students.
  • Need for better alignment between the volume of international students and permanent residence levels space.
  • Increased student vulnerability such as financial hardship and concerns over adequacy of institutional support.
  • Equitable access to the program—the need to improve diversity and address high refusal rates in certain regions.

2023–2024: Modernization Initiatives Implemented

• Addressed unsustainable growth to better calibrate the volume and requirements for the International Student Program with permanent residence program and immigration levels space.
  • Expanded Multi-Year Immigration Levels Plan to include temporary residents, including international students.
  • Established an intake cap on most study permit applications to stabilize the international student population and meet the commitment to reduce temporary resident volumes to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026.
• Aligned work pathways with Canada’s labour market needs.
  • Aligned PGWP eligibility with long term structural labour market shortages and minimum level language proficiency standards.
  • Clarified PGWP eligibility for programs delivered through curriculum licencing: graduates of college programs delivered through a public-private curriculum licensing arrangement will not receive a post-graduation work permit. (Curriculum licensing agreements allow students to graduate from a program that was delivered by a private career college on behalf of a public PGWP-eligible institution.)
  • Increased work permit duration for graduate students at the Master’s level to three years.
  • Adjusted the number of hours that international students may work off-campus to 24 hours per week. This is an increase from the previous limit of 20 hours per week.
• Improved equitable access by incentivizing greater diversification of the international student population.
  • Launched a pilot program for French-speaking students in Francophone Minority Communities, to support Francophone immigration objectives, reduce systemic barriers, enhance diversity and improve retention.
  • Discontinued the Student Direct Stream to enable all applicants to apply on an equal footing regardless of country of origin.
• Strengthened program integrity to reduce student vulnerability.
  • Raised the financial requirements to $20,635, effective as of January 1, 2024, for study permit applicants, to better reflect the cost of living in Canada and help prevent student vulnerability and exploitation.
  • Introduced an enhanced letter of acceptance verification system to better protect prospective students from letter of acceptance fraud.
  • Implemented new regulatory measures to address non-compliant DLIs and requiring students to apply for a new permit when switching institutions.

Modernization Initiatives—Early Results

• The reform measures align with the broader IRCC objectives to manage the volume of temporary resident arrivals, uphold the integrity of our immigration system and protect people from fraud and exploitation.
• Early signs indicate that the measures are working:
  • Letter of acceptance verification system for students identified more than 10,000 potentially fraudulent letters of acceptance in 2024.
  • From January to December 2024, there were approximately 200,000 fewer international students coming to Canada compared to 2023. This decrease is easing pressures in communities and ensures students who come to study in Canada receive the support needed to succeed.
  • Recent reports show rental markets are starting to cool down, in part due to curbed population growth among international students, who are an important source of rental demand.
  • IRCC continues to monitor the initiatives to assess their impacts and determine whether course correction is required.

Upcoming Milestones

• Along with ongoing implementation work, IRCC will continue to monitor the impacts of the measures to ensure they are generating expected outcomes, and course correct as required.
• Key files from now until year-end include: determining the 2026 study permit cap and provincial and territorial allocations; increasing the financial requirement as of September 1, 2025; onboarding Quebec DLIs to the compliance regime; and, launching Memorandum of Understanding negotiations with provinces and territories to ensure their DLIs can continue hosting international students.

Roles and Responsibilities

There are multiple stakeholders who play a key role in the International Student Program:

• Designated Learning Institutions
  • Recruit, select and enroll international students.
  • Participate in letter of acceptance verification.
  • Participate in IRCC compliance regime.
• IRCC
  • Assesses study permit applications against eligibility and admissibility requirements in accordance with federal law and regulations (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations).
  • Sets a national intake cap and provides an allocation of spaces to each province and territory to distribute to DLIs.
  • Manages the compliance regime for DLIs and students.
• Provinces & territories
  • Oversee education in their jurisdiction.
  • Designate educational institutions eligible to receive international students.
  • Determine the number of allocation spaces to provide to individual DLIs from the PT’s allocation envelope; issue attestation letters to prospective international students once they have been accepted to DLIs confirming the applicant has a been assigned a space under the cap.
• Canada Border Services Agency
  • Admit international students in Canada based on admissibility requirements.
  • Enforce immigration laws and remove inadmissible persons.

Key Service Delivery Statistics

Temporary Resident: Study Permits – Data up to 2025 (Jan to Feb)

Processing Times (in days):

Application processing times by line of business are reflected on their own scale and are shown by quarter for comparative purposes.

Arrival Targets